da esport bet： The probe Committee, who were appointed by the Sports Minister, LakshmanKiriella, to investigate into alleged financial mismanagement of theoutgoing Executive Committee, claimed in a six-page press release today,that there was, in their opinion,
CricInfo18-Jun-2001The probe Committee, who were appointed by the Sports Minister, LakshmanKiriella, to investigate into alleged financial mismanagement of theoutgoing Executive Committee, claimed in a six-page press release today,that there was, in their opinion, sufficient suspicious evidence to launch acriminal inquiry into the activities of the dissolved board.Moreover, the probe Committee – which was not supported by ThilangaSumathipala, the ex-President, who pointed out that some of the committeemembers were likely to be hostile to him having supported his opponents inthe last two cricket board elections – revealed that it could find noevidence to confirm that the Sri Lankan cricket board (BCCSL) had obtainedlegal ownership of the land upon which the Rangiri Dambulla InternationalStadium had been built.The five-man Committee, which was headed by Hemantha Warnakulasuriya,commenced the 15-day inquiry on June 1st and handed over the report over tothe Sports Minister on Friday. A press release was handed over to the mediatoday.The release states that they were able to “investigate and inquire into fourmajor acts of malpractice, corruption, misuse and abuse of power, breach oftrust and/or misappropriation of funds.” Having done so they arrived at”tentative” conclusions.”The Committee found that the evidence was sufficient to warrant furtherinvestigations being carried out by the Police and/or the CriminalInvestigations Department (CID), as it involves embezzlement of funds ofover one million Rupees.”The press release is, however, short of details and admits that, “theculpability of the persons involved in this massive fraud, can only bearrived at by a thorough investigation.” The Committee also accuses theoutgoing board of, “violating the BCCSL’s constitution.”The currently contested issue of the ownership over the land on which theRangiri Dambulla International Stadium was constructed takes up most of thesix-page release. The Committee states that on the basis of the evidenceprovided to them, “the BCCSL did not possess in its office a single documentor piece of paper which bears the right, title or interest the BCCSL has tothe land on which the stadium is built.”Upon examination of the lease agreement the Committee reveals that it haddiscovered that the agreement, though signed in front of an Attorney at Law,’bears no date, has no stamps affixed and has no attestation certifying thatthe deed had been attested.’ Moreover, there is, “no evidence that the deedhad been submitted for registration to the relevant Land Registry.”The 36-acres of land was leased to a ‘Trust’ by the name of ‘RangiriDambulla International Stadium Trust’ but the committee confers doubt uponthis trust, claiming that it had, “no legal existence.”The press release accuses the dissolved cricket board of constructing thestadium in defiance of the Buddhist Advisory Board and the Commissioner ofBuddhist Affairs, who had refused to sanction the stadiums development, onthe basis that the stadium would be used for activities (consumption ofalcohol and advertising) which may be opposed to the principles of Buddhism.